Omg...i Might Be On To Something

[dlp252]

Okay, so all this talk about histamines has me thinking, lol. I eat a lot of the foods on that list, and I have a ton of environmental allergies which I'm getting shots for. I take Zyrtek pretty regularly although I try to give myself breaks every few months or weeks. Zyrtek makes me kind of tired...I'm supposed to take it once a day, so I take it when I get home from work and it usually helps me sleep. It seems to have that affect for several weeks, even months for me...in fact, I know when it's time to take a break from it when I start waking up at midnight or 1:00 and staying awake, lol. Sorry, strayed from my point.

So, anyway, back to the histamines...I always have that drip in the back of my throat and dizzy-ness and nausea were my main nagging symptoms up until a couple of months ago when I started cutting out a lot of the stuff we've been talking about on this thread, some of which are on that list. I still have a lot of congestion though, so I'm wondering if I cut out some of the other histamine foods if it would make a difference in my sinuses. Worth a try...I'm willing to try just about everything we've mentioned on this thread, lol.

[Rachel--24]

I started my meds tonight. I just took the first one before my meal. Oh man....I hope I get some positive results from this. I've got nothin but good thoughts and all my fingers crossed too.

I feel tired.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Is it possible to feel tired already? Maybe I just had too many busy days. Maybe I'm just a hypocondriach.

I forgot to mention....ever since I gave up my dried fruits and even the jam I was devouring by the jarful...I've had no more mouth blisters. The night I went crazy with dried fruit again...I got blisters. Last night something caused a reaction...maybe the avocado or the plum I ate...anyways I got a blister.

[evie]

I started my meds tonight. I just took the first one before my meal. Oh man....I hope I get some positive results from this. I've got nothin but good thoughts and all my fingers crossed too.

I feel tired.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Is it possible to feel tired already? Maybe I just had too many busy days. Maybe I'm just a hypocondriach.

I forgot to mention....ever since I gave up my dried fruits and even the jam I was devouring by the jarful...I've had no more mouth blisters. The night I went crazy with dried fruit again...I got blisters. Last night something caused a reaction...maybe the avocado or the plum I ate...anyways I got a blister.

Rachel; I do not think you are a hypochondriac!! more than likely you have just been sick for so long your immune sytam has gone down the drain along / mine and many others on this board. After reading about sulfites on this line i know why my Dr. had me leave off dried fruits ( sulfites). i am in the process right now drying in my home ddehydrator some grapes that were too sour to eat and some homegrown currants from our bushes. I canned in pints currant juice to use / other juices and froze juice to mix/ ederberry juice for jelly later if I can get the elderberrieds away from the birds. good luck with your new medication, not sure but is that a new antihistamine? evie

[Guest Robbin]

Hi everyone, I am really learning alot on this thread! I was wondering (maybe I missed it somewhere) what vitamins can you take if you can't have corn? I am having a horrible time with corn too.

Also, my youngest son, Zack who has soooo many allergies and is trying so hard to gain weight has finally got his appetite back and gained a little weight since he switched from Claritan to Zyrtec. Just in the last month we have seen a huge difference in him since the zyrtec. He doesn't get the stomach aches and "full feeling" after only a couple of bites. I hope you get good results too Rachel.

You know, I also heard that frozen food bags were coated with cornstarch or wheatstarch. I can't remember where I heard this, though. I think maybe my mom. I will definitely check on this.

I never knew about the msg/hydrolyzed link. This explains a lot of the problems we are having here too. Thanks again, I don't know what I'd do without this forum. With a community like this, we learn from each others' experiences and it is soooooo amazing how long this thread is!

[AndreaB]

Rachel,

Hope those meds work for you.

Robbin,

If you find out anything about the frozen food bags please be sure to post. My infant son hasn't reacted with eczema so I'm thinking they are ok. He's pretty sensitive and he's only nursing. Just started him on rice cereal. Yummy mommy! We've switched to just buying organic frozen and that's primarily what I buy. Don't buy fresh very much. I read somewhere that frozen has more nutrients because it is processed right away whereas the fresh produce has to be trucked to the stores...although, some stuff just doesn't taste too good frozen and there is not a large selection.

My hubby said it got up to 103 here today. That's almost unheard of for us. My weatherbug said 97. At least we have air conditioning. I'm glad since the little one was running a fever last night and still has a low grade

[Mango04]

You know, I also heard that frozen food bags were coated with cornstarch or wheatstarch. I can't remember where I heard this, though. I think maybe my mom. I will definitely check on this.

I've also been seeing a lot of that plastic that's made out of corn. It's supposed to be really environmentally friendly, but I wonder if it's a problem for corn sensitive folks. I've seen cups and containers and stuff like that. They do like to make it really obvious when the plastic is made from corn though, so I don't think it'd be a hidden thing.

ps - I think I got lost somewhere around page 65 LOL I've got a lot of reading to do.

[rinne]

Have you ever read Sugar Blues. I forget the author but it is a very good book. We've been overindulging lately as well. I've been buying stuff until I get everything together to bake my own goodies. Sugar in the highly processed form is likened to heroin which is highly refined and very addictive. The body can only handle so many fruits (natural sugar) before we get full, but with sugar we don't have the stop triggered because it is highly refined and doesn't fill us as quickly.

I haven't read this Andrea but I will look for it. I think I am going to have to add sugar to my list of things not to eat and that will include dried fruits. I love dates and have been buying the organic medjool dates, mostly for my sweetie, because I know they are too sweet for me but they are so delicious that I've eaten a few lately. I can never stop with one, the last time I ate four but I have consumed as many as eight, big mistake but so was four. It is like adding gasoline to a fire and I'm the fire.

I've been thinking about what I call The Sunday Cake, really it is just an idea of moderation, of having a treat one day a week and that treat being wholesome and delicious. I think, as a society, we have forgotten how to eat to nourish our bodies and are lost in indulging our taste buds without consideration for the consequences. A friend and I were talking about sugar and arthritis, her hands are becoming stiff, swollen and very painful and I was telling her that I could immediately feel the inflammation in my hand if I ate sugar. She laughed and said that she wouldn't give up her four cups of coffee with two teaspoons of sugar in each cup and yes she knew that sugar was bad.

I wonder if, as Celiacs, from the very beginning of our lives our sense of self-protection has been violated by the lack of choice we had regarding being poisoned. I think that without a sense of self-protection we are vulnerable to choices which harm us, I wouldn't be surprised to see lots of depression and suicide in undiagnosed Celiacs because so many of us have had pain from the beginning. I think that pain has confused us and that we have been further confused by the fact that the poison comes with so much that is sweet. I also think there is a very good chance my friend is gluten-intolerant at the very least and quite possibly celiac disease too. She won't look at it.

If there is something to be grateful for with this it is that I know now that every bite I take is a choice and that some choices will nourish me and some will hurt me.

Tonight I am sitting at the yellow table that was my Grandmother's table and the place that was my favourite place to be as a child. When we went to visit, the visit would drag on until it seemed my father would leave and we wouldn't have tea and just at that point my grandmother would say, "well, we must have tea" (wily old woman that she was she kept us as long as she could) and the kettle would go on and four teabags would go into the large brown earthenware teapot and crackers and cheese would come out or perhaps salmon sandwiches with lots of pepper. Then, the best part was the cupboard door opening and the treats coming out. The oatmeal cookies made with lard and rolled flat so they were wonderfully crunchy, or the chocolate cake that had a funny metal taste from the tin it was baked in but was so good I would just ignore that or sometimes butter tarts that melted.... and all poison.

My grandfather died at 65, for years when I looked at his photo I couldn't figure out the expression in his eyes, this winter I realized it was pain. Sometimes it is so utterly overwhelming.

I think in my first post I rashly made the promise that I wouldn't write long posts, I've just made a liar out of myself.

[evie]

Hi everyone, I am really learning alot on this thread! I was wondering (maybe I missed it somewhere) what vitamins can you take if you can't have corn? I am having a horrible time with corn too.

You know, I also heard that frozen food bags were coated with cornstarch or wheatstarch. I can't remember where I heard this, though. I think maybe my mom. I will definitely check on this.

Robbin; If you go back to post # 1190 you will find I posted that item about flour in frozen veggie bags. that was told to me by a small hospital dietitician but when i asked the University dietician about it she had not heard it..so not sure. We would like to know for sure, right, me too!! evie

[Rachel--24]

good luck with your new medication, not sure but is that a new antihistamine? evie

Thanks evie

I dont think its new...I think its been around a long time. Its just not commercially available here in the US. I got it compounded from a compounding pharmacy in WA.

P.S. I dont really think I'm a hypochondriach....well not yet at least.

I was only kidding....I was really groggy when I wrote that last night. I went to bed at 830 and didn't wake up till 7:30.

Hi everyone, I am really learning alot on this thread! I was wondering (maybe I missed it somewhere) what vitamins can you take if you can't have corn? I am having a horrible time with corn too.

Hi Robbin,

Have you checked out the Delphi corn forum? There is alot of info on there re: vitamins and pretty much everything having to do with corn. I did alot of reading on there but never looked into vitamins since I'm not interested in taking any.

Thats great that your son gained weight on the Zyrtec!

I'll be happy if I can just maintain my weight and not suffer as many allergic reactions. Have his food intolerances improved on the claritan and zyrtec?

I've also been seeing a lot of that plastic that's made out of corn. It's supposed to be really environmentally friendly, but I wonder if it's a problem for corn sensitive folks. I've seen cups and containers and stuff like that. They do like to make it really obvious when the plastic is made from corn though, so I don't think it'd be a hidden thing.

I remember reading on the corn forum that some paper plates were coated with corn. Probably the ones that have that shiny/slick appearance. I know that they were avoiding paper products with corn because of reactions.

[Guest Robbin]

rinne, your post moved me so much. For some reason it made me really teary and I miss my grandma You really have great insight--(please tell me you are a writer!! ) many of us are so accustomed to pain that when we get a glimpse of normalcy-like one great pain-free day--we want desperately to get completely well. This thread is like a road on our journey to discover what we need to do to get more of those great days. Actually, this whole forum is like a "journal to wellness" .

[Rachel--24]

I can never stop with one, the last time I ate four but I have consumed as many as eight, big mistake but so was four. It is like adding gasoline to a fire and I'm the fire.

Yeah....I know what you mean but I cant even stop at 8!

I think in my first post I rashly made the promise that I wouldn't write long posts, I've just made a liar out of myself.

I enjoyed reading your post.

Actually as I was reading I was thinking that you're a very good writer. When I was reading about your grandparents it seemed like your words just flowed really well. I bet you would make a good writer.....I wouldnt be surprised if you've done some already.

[rinne]

For some reason it made me really teary and I miss my grandma.

Me too.

Thank you Robin and no I am not a writer but for the first time in my life I feel like I have something to say, so maybe I am on my way to finding out what that means. I always wanted to be a writer, books are where I escaped the pain when I was a child.

And thank you Rachel, so much of what I wrote comes from the feeling of trust I have in what you have created in this thread.

I am so grateful, as Robin says this is a journey to wellness.

[Rachel--24]

rinne, your post moved me so much. For some reason it made me really teary and I miss my grandma You really have great insight--(please tell me you are a writer!! )

OMG...how funny.

SEEEEE.....I'm not the only one who "felt" something reading your post! You expressed yourself wonderfully and kind of brought your readers into the moment. Not many people can do that!

[dlp252]

I think, as a society, we have forgotten how to eat to nourish our bodies and are lost in indulging our taste buds without consideration for the consequences.

I loved your whole post, but this really stood out! I too have friends (and I do it myself too) that won't give up the stuff they know is bad...with me it's not so much that I refuse, I'm just weak, lol.

Boy, have any of you ever started eating something then immediately felt like you had to throw up...I was about halfway through my "lunch" when there was absolutely no warning...I almost had to hurl at my desk. That doesn't happen to me very often...in fact I think this is about the third time in my life that I can remember it happening. Fortunately I was able to avoid it this time, but in the past, I've had to run to the bathroom (and fortunately it was at home). There was no advanced feeling of nausea--in fact no nausea at all, just a knowledge that I was about to hurl. Isn't that weird??

Rachel - good luck with the new meds...when I take Zyrtek, it doesn't take long for it to start making me tired, although if I were out, it's not enough to make me dangerous on the road, lol.

Robbin - I haven't returned to all my vitamins yet. I'm taking some Vitamin C which says no corn (I think--now I'll have to double check, but I think I threw out all the ones that DIDN't say no corn) on the label (but not sure I completely trust that, but I figure the amount can't be much)...I'm also taking my probiotics again. I intended to slowly add back the vitamins which state no corn, but I'm not sure I really want to. Anyway, the Vitamin C is the Vitamin Shoppe brand and the probiotics are NOW brand.

[AndreaB]

Goodmorning girls!

I gotten out of hand with sugar lately. As well as dairy. I need to cut back down to just butter and cheese unless milk is called for in a recipe. Of course, I really don't want to and so many recipes call for dairy. Since I can't eat soy products anymore than it's going to have to be dairy. I've been eating breyers ice cream lately which isn't organic for one. Last night for a after dinner treat I had some chocolate ice cream with enjoy life double chocolate brownie cookies in it and enjoy life chocolate chips sprinkled on top. Can you tell I like chocolate? I was a chocoholic turned caroboholic and now back to some chocolate since carob chips as well as chocolate chips have soy lecithin in them.

I made Crispy Pecan Chicken Fingers last night which were pretty good...would have been better with a dipping sauce. I also made crunchy almond chicken since I had to cook the chicken breasts, but haven't tried that yet. They are from the cookbooks by Donna Washburn and Heather Butt.

[jerseyangel]

Hi Andrea You're making me hungry

[AndreaB]

Hi Andrea You're making me hungry

Patti,

Were you the one who was ordering the Gluten Free Baking Classics by Annalise Roberts? I thought I had all the flour to mix up and I forgot to buy a big bag of potato starch. I do have a little on so I can mix some. I bought all 25 pound bags. The trick will be to get the bags back in the freezer, once they are opened, so they won't spill. I buy bulk to save money in the long run. Gotta run down south again to pick that up but since we just got a gas guzzling van I don't want to run down just for that. The kids love the van and all the room they have now.

[Green12]

Patti,

Were you the one who was ordering the Gluten Free Baking Classics by Annalise Roberts? I thought I had all the flour to mix up and I forgot to buy a big bag of potato starch. I do have a little on so I can mix some. I bought all 25 pound bags. The trick will be to get the bags back in the freezer, once they are opened, so they won't spill. I buy bulk to save money in the long run. Gotta run down south again to pick that up but since we just got a gas guzzling van I don't want to run down just for that. The kids love the van and all the room they have now.

That was me Andrea. I just received it yesterday and I have been looking through it, looks really good. I can't eat like this everyday, or even once a week, but I look forward to trying out some of the recipes for holidays and special occasions

[evie]

Goodmorning girls!

I gotten out of hand with sugar lately. As well as dairy. I need to cut back down to just butter and cheese unless milk is called for in a recipe. Of course, I really don't want to and so many recipes call for dairy. Since I can't eat soy products anymore than it's going to have to be dairy. I've been eating breyers ice cream lately which isn't organic for one. Last night for a after dinner treat I had some chocolate ice cream with enjoy life double chocolate brownie cookies in it and enjoy life chocolate chips sprinkled on top. Can you tell I like chocolate? I was a chocoholic turned caroboholic and now back to some chocolate since carob chips as well as chocolate chips have soy lecithin in them.

andrea, you sound like you are a good cook, chocholic here too but still holding myself back; maybe too soon. so this am I mad. up choc. chip cookies (no chips) that became cake, very good cake from scratcth. another 1st for me for a long time. I used home dried currants and raisins/ chopped walnuts + a bit of crushed pineapple. part of the sugar was honey so was too thin for cookies, so decided would have bars in 2 8" sq. pans. It raised so well and was soft like a cake, it was deliciuos, even hubby said so but did not want a 2nd piece. So how are you today with all the chocolate and ice cream? I am reccomended to stay away from dairy yet, sposed to see GI in July so may get the WORD on that then. Have good day all!! evie

[Rachel--24]

I was searching around the net looking for more info about the drug I'm taking. Right away I came across a post from a guy with pretty much the exact problems as me and then when I got to his second post I discovered that he must be seeing my doctor too!! How funny is that.....what are the chances. Anyways, she just put him on the same drug I'm taking....it looks like he's been on it more than 2 weeks before me. I wish I could see if he's had any improvement but there are no more posts from him. This is what he wrote about the drug though.

She also prescribed a drug that is not commercially available in the US called Ketotifen. You take it a half hour before food, and it stops the body's reaction, and thus allows the lining of the gut to heal. The pharmacist who has to make the drug (@ a compounding pharmacy since it's not available here) says he too suffers from Leaky Gut, and this has been an absolute lifesaver for him. Says he's given it to hundreds of people, and the only side effect has been drowsiness. Normally i am against drugs of any kind, but i have suffered SO LONG that this actually looks promising to me. I started the medication, and i have noticed the drowsiness, as well as a bit of irritability. He says these will diminish over the next couple of weeks (I hope so!!)

Earlier in his post he says that his Dr. is in Sunnyvale, CA so I'm pretty certain he's seeing the same Dr.....also everything he wrote is what I was told by the Dr. too.

Today is my second day and I didnt wait for my last meal to take it. I've been taking it before all my meals and if I get tired I guess I just have to deal with it.

[jerseyangel]

Darn, I hit the wrong stupid button and lost almost a whole post Rachel--Small world about that man's post! I'm relieved to hear that you didn't get any of the bad side effects from your med. Actually, it looks like the effects are similar to the ones from a conventional antihistimine. That's great I had heavy head and felt the sticky sinus/ear stuff today, so I took a Claritan--felt much better this afternoon. I'm going to read up on your new med--I would love to try it, but the hard part would be to find someone to prescribe it for me. It's just that if Claritan does this much, I can't help but think what yours would do. I'm gonna look into it, though. Anyway, enjoy your week off!--it's started, right? Doing anything special?

[Rachel--24]

Yeah...my vacation has started but I'm not doing anything special.

I'm kind of bummed because I ran into some trouble again...I'm pretty sure its the Auxigro. This has got to be by far the most frusterating part of my whole ordeal. How can I ever get better if they put msg into the produce? I'll just keep getting sick everytime I try to add something. It sucks more than anything else I've dealt with....mainly because I have absolutely no control of the situation and no way of possibly knowing whats been sprayed and what hasnt.

I had thought I had finally found a safe yam and was eating it for about 3 days. Right off the bat I had loose stools but this only happens the next day when I wake up. I didnt think the yams could have caused it since I felt fine after eating them. I actually wasnt feeling bad the next day either....I just had the enourmous loose stools. It totally crept up on me. For 3 or 4 days now I've had massive loose stools in the am, I've lost a few lbs., slowly I started noticing alot of inflammation in my neck and shoulders, some mild brainfog, increased sensitivities, burning eyes. This morning I woke up with alot of shoulder and back pain, my hands have major excema, my head is swollen, and I'm pale with fluid retention.

I dont think all this was caused by the avacado. This is more like what happens with the Auxigro. Since I've reacted to all yams thus far I'm thinking I still havent found a safe one. I was feeling good and I think because of that it took a couple days to build up in my system. I should have been more observant because the huge stools were a big clue something wasnt right but I ignored it.

I hope I can recover before my vacation comes and goes. When this happens I get afraid to eat for a few days because I get paranoid not knowing whats safe or not. I dont want to eat my lettuce anymore since that could be sprayed and I havent really determined it to be safe yet. It could have contributed to my problems.

Oh....my ears are getting infected again too plus I got a little rash on my stomach from my belt touching my hypersensitive skin. This sucks.

[miamia]

Yeah...my vacation has started but I'm not doing anything special.

I'm kind of bummed because I ran into some trouble again...I'm pretty sure its the Auxigro. This has got to be by far the most frusterating part of my whole ordeal. How can I ever get better if they put msg into the produce? I'll just keep getting sick everytime I try to add something. It sucks more than anything else I've dealt with....mainly because I have absolutely no control of the situation and no way of possibly knowing whats been sprayed and what hasnt.

I had thought I had finally found a safe yam and was eating it for about 3 days. Right off the bat I had loose stools but this only happens the next day when I wake up. I didnt think the yams could have caused it since I felt fine after eating them. I actually wasnt feeling bad the next day either....I just had the enourmous loose stools. It totally crept up on me. For 3 or 4 days now I've had massive loose stools in the am, I've lost a few lbs., slowly I started noticing alot of inflammation in my neck and shoulders, some mild brainfog, increased sensitivities, burning eyes. This morning I woke up with alot of shoulder and back pain, my hands have major excema, my head is swollen, and I'm pale with fluid retention.

I dont think all this was caused by the avacado. This is more like what happens with the Auxigro. Since I've reacted to all yams thus far I'm thinking I still havent found a safe one. I was feeling good and I think because of that it took a couple days to build up in my system. I should have been more observant because the huge stools were a big clue something wasnt right but I ignored it.

I hope I can recover before my vacation comes and goes. When this happens I get afraid to eat for a few days because I get paranoid not knowing whats safe or not. I dont want to eat my lettuce anymore since that could be sprayed and I havent really determined it to be safe yet. It could have contributed to my problems.

Oh....my ears are getting infected again too plus I got a little rash on my stomach from my belt touching my hypersensitive skin. This sucks.

Rachel-

I am so sorry to hear you are having such a hard time. I also have been frustrated lately with vegeatables- sometimes they sit ok and other times not and I don't know if its how there grown, where there grown, if the store has kept them out too long. (so many factors) I relaly hope this new drug works for you and that the rest of your vacation is better.

Miamia

[Guest Robbin]

Rachel, I am so sorry you are feeling rotten again. I am beginning to think we are all meant to be strictly carnivores. I am just about there. My son still has the intolerances, but the "mystery" stomach fullness and nausea has stopped (thank God). I credit the zyrtec. Claritan didn't seem to make a difference for him, although I know a lot of people it does help.

Lol, I guess this thread is so long, coupled with my brain fog-I maybe read about the coating on frozen food bags on here--! btw-what will we do when we all have to use corn fuel for everything? We will all be "corned" by our cars I wonder if there will be a lot of "corn fumes"?

Andrea, you are so lucky to be able to eat dairy. Your post had me so hungry :)Eat a bowl of ice cream for me, I will enjoy it vicariously.

Rachel--almost forgot--belt buckles and snaps make my skin break out really bad, so I sometimes put a little vaseline on the back of the snap if it touches the skin. Hope that helps you too.

[Rachel--24]

One thing is for sure...next time I see those massive loose stools I'm gonna do something about my diet right then and there. Everytime I get those stools something bad is always going on even if I feel fine when it starts. I gotta not ignore stuff like that...I'm just mad at myself tonite cuz I could have prevented this.

I've been in a fog pretty much all day yesterday and today. Just walking around wasting alot of time doing nothing. Can anyone relate? I hate when this happens cuz I dont get anything done, I'm moving in slow motion and I constantly forget why I went downstairs or upstairs and I just go back and forth all day. It doesnt usually last more than 2 or 3 days so hopefully tomorrow will be better.